Cylinder UV distortion
If you're simply trying to resolve the unwrap distortion, I'd verify that you have no doubles causing un-seamed edges that might be causing the warping.   This can be resolved without touching the object itself, which is what the polycount answer was pertaining to.


check seams 
U -unwrap mesh 
bring up the UV editor in a separate panel


You should then be able to manipulate the UV as you like.